Promises
by Antoinette St. Clair
Summary: Through many misfortunate events, Leonardo and his brothers are about to learn just how important promises are. Part 1 in a series.
1. Chapter 1

Ah! Please don't hurt me! O.O I know I'm still writing the other two, but, uh, it's all the plot bunny's fault!!! Anyway, I've already posted this story on a different website and the people there seemed to like it, so, yeah. Here you go! I'll be working on this one until I get over my writer's block.

**Promises**

**Chapter 1**

It was around 3 o' clock in the morning, and Splinter was awoken from his sleep by the sound of what could've been mistaken as thunder coming from the living room in his home. He slowly opened his eyes, which was a little hard to do because of the crust that tried to keep them shut, and found himself in his bedroom surrounded by the darkness which came with night time, or in this case, early morning. Taking a deep breath, he sat up in his small, rectangular bed and stretched in an attempt of waking up a little before going to see what had woken him in the first place. He pulled the sheets off his furry legs and swung his feet off the edge of the bed and slipped on his slippers. He then walked over to the wall to his left and took an unlit candle from the corner of the room's table which was covered with many candles and different scents of incsence. Once he had litten it, he quietly strode out into the living room area to finally solve the case of these mysterious noises.  
When Splinter saw what had been causing the noise, he shook his head in dissappointment. Two of his four sons, Leonardo and Raphael, were rolling around on the cold stone floor fighting and wrestling. They both weighed about 180 pounds, so when the rolled around or threw each other onto the ground, it would make a loud, thunderous noise. After a moment of observation, Splinter turned on the living room lights, and the two fighters froze instantly. Their eyes darted to the circuit - breaker box and they saw their father/sensei, Splinter, standing beside it releasing the lever. The older turtle, Leonardo, hurried to get off of his brother and kneel before their Master. Raphael did the same. Splinter took a few steps forward and stood before them before asking, "What is going on here, Leonardo?"  
_Crap,_ Leonardo thought to himself. _Now _I _have to give an explanation for _his _actions...but what else is new? _Leonardo raised his head to look into Splinter's brown, tired, powerful eyes before answering. "Raphael was trying to sneak out again, Sensei." Raphael shot his blue clad brother a look before hissing, "Snitch." Leonardo retorted with a, "Pee brain." Then they began to go back and forth. Insult after insult until Splinter raised a paw to silence them. Fortunatley for the tired old rat, it worked. His sons faced their Master once more. Now that Splinter _finally_ had their attention, it was time to begin the lecturing part of the fight.  
"Raphael, is what your brother speaks of true? Have you again attempted to sneak out?" Raphael's eyes were not looking at Splinter anymore. They were fixed on the stone wall behind Splinter. He mumbled his reply, but Splinter said that he could not hear him. Now tired and frustrated, Raphael raised his voice. "Yes! I tried to sneak out!" Splinter's eyes softened a bit. "Why, my son?" Raphael's expression also softened. "I just needed some air." "You could have told someone, my son." "Well I tried to tell mister fearless leader, over there, but he wouldn't let me out!" Raphael motioned his hands to Leonardo as if saying, "See? I told you!" Leonardo glared at him. "Well, how could I be sure you weren't going out to go and bash some skulls, or go to one of those bars?" Splinter ;aid a paw on Leonardo's shoulder. "You must trust your brother on his word, Leonardo. How can we remain a family if there is no trust?" Leonardo just lowered his gaze to the floor he was kneeling on, and Splinter withdrew his hand to turn to Raphael.  
"Raphael, you may go out for some air, but I want you back here by seven, do you understand?" Raphael nodded his head once solemnly. "Yes, Sensei. Thank you, Sensei." He stood, and Leonardo watched him walk away. Before he left the lair, Raphael looked at his brother with a flash of a triumphant look on his face. Leonardo glared and shook his head when Raph was gone. _Hot head,_ Leonardo thought to himself as he continued to kneel on the floor. _Splinter Junior,_ Raphael thought to himself as he ran through the sewer pipes.


	2. Chapter 2

Dammit! Sorry about how the last chapter was written. My bad. Hopefully, this will be better. : )

**Promises...**

**Chapter 2**

A deep breath in...and release...just relax...they should stop any time now...

That's what Donatello thought to himself as he laid on his purple quilted bed in his small, dark lab/bedroom. He had been awoken by the sound of his two brother's wrestling downstairs. As much as he wanted to go down there and whack both of them on the head with his bo staff, Splinter had beaten him to the punch. He now lied there staring at the wall while he listened to Leonardo being lectured by Splinter. He then thought he heard his hot headed older brother say something quietly, and then he heard the lair door slide open and close again.

_Finally,_ Donatello thought to himself. _Peace and quiet..._

He drifted back into a deep sleep only to be awaken by the sound of his shell cell ringing after what had only seemed like a moment later. Groaning in annoyance, Donatello swiped at the phone that lay vibrating and ringing on his bed side table. Accidentaly, he knocked it off. Cursing under his breath, he sat up in his bed and bent down to get the phone. He picked it up and answered groggily.

"Hello?"

"Don! Is that you?!"

"Casey?"

Doantello peered over at his alarm clock and then slapped his face with his hand.

"Case, it's 6 o' clock in the morning. What could possibly be so important that you needed to call me this early?"

Then Casey Jones began to ramble on and on about something Donatello couldn't quite understand. _Did he just say something about Raph's shirt?_ Donatello rolled his eyes.

"Casey, as fascinating as this is, you called me to tell me I need to come get Raphael's _shirt_?

"No, bonehead! I said Raphael's hurt! Bad! You and your bros need to come and get him!"

Suddenly a wave of panic ran through Donatello. He found himself fully awake now, and responded to Casey in a serious tone.

"I'm on my way."

Before he hung up, Donatello heard Caset snicker on the other end of the line.

"You thought I said you need to come get Raph's shirt?"

He began to laugh, and Donatello glared at his wall in annoyance.

"Shut up."

He hung up and stood from his bed. He slipped on his pads, belt, and mask before grabbing his bo staff on the way to tell Leonardo and Michelangelo about Raph.


	3. Chapter 3

**Promises...**

**Chapter 3 : The First Promise...**

Donatello, Michelangelo, and Leonardo drove their Battle Shell as fast as they could to get to April's apartment. That's where Casey said they were taking care of Raphael. As soon as the armoured car pulled up to the curb and screeched to a halt, the three brothers jumped out and ran stealthily to the front door. Donatello turned the doorknob slowly and pushed the door open carefully, making a creaking sound. "April? Casey? Where are you guys," Don asked as he and his brothers entered the living room. Leonardo, being the last one inside, shut the door behind him after looking outside to make sure that no one had seen them. April rushed down the stairs with her eyes wide. "Guys? Is that you?" Leonardo stepped forward. "Where's Raphael?" "Up here. Follow me." Leonardo, followed by Donatello and Michelangelo, jogged up the stair case. They made it to the top, and April pushed the bedroom door open. Raphael laid on the bed, sleeping not unconscious, with a wound on his head and a large scar that ran from the top of his right shoulder down to his right palm. The scar still bled. Luckily, April and Casey managed to bandage it up a bit, but not enough to completely cease the bleeding.

"Raph," Donatello said as he rushed to Raphael's bedside. Caset sat on the opposite side Donatello in a chair, circles under his eyes from obvious lack of sleep. Donnie paid him no mind as he placed a hand on Raphael's head and stroked his forehead with his thumb. Raphael felt the encouraging touches to his brow and slowly opened his eyes to see a green and purple blob staring down at him. He managed to get out, "D...donnie...," before feeling himself trapped in the embrace of his younger brother. Doing something he'd normally never do, Raphael did his best to return the hug, but could only weakly place his hands on Donatello's shell. Donatello pulled away and looked down at his hot headed brother. "How're you feeling?" Raphael laughed softly as he placed a hand on his forehead wound. "Peachy...just, peachy..." Don let out a slight chuckle before letting Michelangelo lunge at the red clad turtle and give him a hug as well. "Dude! You got torn up!" Raphael glared at him. "Thanks for the reminder, Mike." "Uh, right...sorry..."

Leonardo remained at the door. He didn't have anything to say to Raphael at the moment...except maybe...

"What happened to you?"

Raphael looked at Leo with no hint of feeling or expression.

"I got jumped by some foot ninja in the allyway."

"How many?"

"...what?"

"How many foot ninja were there?"

Raphael looked at Leonardo, thrown by why the hell it mattered how many there were.

"About 20. Why?"

Leonardo just looked at him.

"...Twenty? There were only 20? Raphael, you've defeated more than that, how'd you lose?"

"Why does it matter, Leo? They tore me up, I'm hurt, why the hell does it matter?!"

"I think you need to work on your katas when we get home later. You obviously haven't been training hard enough."

Donatello and Michelangelo gaped at their leader with wide eyes. Mikey was the first one to speak up.

"Leo, that's not fair! He might've just been tired! And he's hurt!"

"Yeah," Donatello exclaimed, "How can you think about training when one of your own is injured?"

"He shouldn't have been out in the first place..." Leonardo glared at Raphael, and Raphael glared right back.

"Listen, oh fearless one, Splinter said I could go!"

"What difference does that make? If you hadn't gone, you would not have been attacked. And you wouldn't be lying here broken and battered if you trained a little bit harder!" Leonardo began to raise his voice. Raphael just looked all the more angry, and Donnie and Mikey decided not to say anything while they watched their brother's argue.

"You know what, Leo," Raphael shouted, "I hate the way you treat me badly when I don't do something perfectly. I hate the way you disagree with EVERY LITTLE THING I SAY! And you know what else?!" No one was prepared for what Raphael was about to yell at Leonardo.

"I HATE YOU!"

_To Be Continued,..._


	4. Chapter 4

**Promises...**

**Chapter 3: The First Promise Continued...**

Leonardo's head and eyes jerked up at Raphael's announcement. Never, never in a million _years _would he have thought Raphael would say something like that He was hurt. His best friend hated him...?

Raphael regretted what he said as soon as he had said it. _I don't hate Leo,_ he thought to himself. _Do I? No! Never!_

Michelangelo and Donatello, however, were not suprised at the sudden outburst from their red clad brother. But that didn't mean that they thought Raphael hated Leonardo! No, far from it! They knew that just because they argue alot, that doesn't mean that they hate each other.

Leonardo could feel his eyes burning with unproduced tears. He did his best to hold them back, but it didn't work well, and that made Raphael feel even worse. He had never seen Leonardo cry before. Not _once._ Leo was a strong guy, and it took alot to make him tear up in the least bit. But what Raphael said had done the trick.

"Leo, I...I didn't...I mean..."

Leonardo stood his ground and didn't look at Raphael. Then a single tear streamed down his right cheek.

"No, I-"

But he was cut off by the sad look Leonardo gave him.

"I'm sorry, Raph."

Leonardo turned around and was about to leave the room when Raphael spoke.

"Leo! Wait!"

Leonardo turned back around and looked to Raphael. Raph didn't know what to say, but he couldn't just let Leonardo walk out like that!

_I gotta apologize, or hug him, or tell him I love him, or SOMETHING! God, Raph! SAY SOMETHING!!_

But Raphael was at a total loss for words and Leonardo gave a disappointed sigh before speaking.

"I'm sorry for whatever I did to make you hate me. But...just, just remember that nothing you could do could make me hate you, ok? I love you. I always will. And that's a promise."

"I know, I-"

But Leonardo strode out of the room and shut the door behind him. Everyone in the bedroom looked at Raphael expressionless. Raphael just gave them an apologetic look.

Then all of a sudden there was a huge crash coming from downstairs. But that wasn't the onlt noise.

The sound of Leonardo's blood curdling scream rang in all of their ears.


End file.
